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Friday, 7 September 2012

Devouring Stephen King: Dolores Claiborne

"In the end, the bright colours always go out of life, have you noticed that? In the end things always look grey, like a dress that's been warshed too many times."

I had major reservations about this book, for the one good reason that it's basically one giant monologue, which I'm never NOT going to have problems with- I don't like it when chapters go over about 10 pages, so 300 page book with NO stopping points? What am I supposed to do with that?! It didn't look good from the start.

But. It ended up actually being really awesome! I even figured out where some appropriate stopping places were, but in the end I read almost all of it in one day anyway, which was definitely handy! So. Dolores Claiborne is a pretty straightforward story about one woman's murder of her husband 30 years prior to her confession, which makes up the biggest portion of this book. Oddly, when I read about 2 pages of this whenever I first bought it (AGES ago) I thought that Dolores was going to be the villain in a scary-old-lady way, but nope, she's the good guy (unless you consider murder bad, which it obviously is, except when it isn't... In a book sort of way, that is.)

Ok, so. That's pretty much all there is to it, so it's a pretty simple story and, in respect of its simplicity, King keeps it down to 300 pages, which I have a lot of respect for him doing. Following straight on the heels of Gerald's Game, he has another entirely female narrator which is a VERY GOOD THING (King not always being the most lady-representing author), and that's not the only parallel with Gerald's Game either. My extensive research (Wikipedia) tells me that they were at one time going to be released as a double book thing because the important events in both happen during the same eclipse, and there's this thing in Gerald's Game that was completely unsolved, that Dolores Claiborne solves. And there are lots of other subtle little mentions as well, which I love and which King does a lot. Hence my love for him.

See, I'm struggling to think of things to say about Dolores Claiborne, because whilst I enjoyed it and everything, it feels like knowing too much about it is going to spoil it because only about three things of major consequence happen, and knowing about them (well, I guess you know about her husband's murder, but that's revealed really really early on. Like first 3 pages or something) would totally detract from the reading experience. So let's just say... There's a really interesting and complex example of female friendship in the story, which was a bit of a surprise and a very welcome one, and there's also some mother-daughter bonding which was pretty nice to. To say this book is all about the ladies wouldn't be far from the truth, and it has redeemed King to a certain extent in my mind about the way he presents women in his books. I mean, it's not perfect for that (there's a thing that's a thing that constantly annoys me... You'll have to read it to see!) but it's definitely a good thing, and feels like a step forward, to a certain extent.

So yeah, Dolores Claiborne, I like it! Short and sweet, even though it's a monologue, you can read it basically in an afternoon, and in return for your time you get some really compelling characters and situations and stuff (vague much?!) Well worth the time it takes to read, anyway.

I totally finished this before RIP started, but am I going to count it anyway? You bet I am. So this is Book the First.

18 comments:

THE DARK TOWERRRRRRR! This is pretty good though! Although you might have to read Gerald's Game too cause of the aforementioned similarities between them, and that's not as good IMHO. Have you read Bag of Bones? That's one of my favourites...

Sooooo many choices! I need like a list of all the ones you've read and how much you liked them, and then to formulate what you should read next from that. And OH the fun that would be! (I'm not even being sarcastic, I'd find that fun!)

You could definitely do this one. There's probably quite a few you could read really. Maybe The Green Mile too? Annnd... The Dark Tower, definitely (although it can get scary sometimes. But not that much.)

I wish I'd done similar research before writing my post. It would have been as equally extensive of course. Good old Wikipedia. I'm not sure this is one I'd recommend, though. It's a good read and all, but there isn't much meat on the bone.

Stephen King! I still haven't read anything of his except "The Shining," which I read in high school. I was in his section at the library the other day and his books are SO. LONG. They intimidate me. But I think this book sounds really great. And also short. I am intrigued by the circumstances of this murrrder. But first, "It." I think I'll start with that.

His books are long, but they're such quick reads! (I feel like whenever I say that, I'm doubting his writing abilities, but NO. The wanting to continue is what makes him so great!) Well, apart from The Stand, but that's an epic undertaking that can't be begun lightly.

ANYWAY! I think IT is an amaaazing choice for nearly your first King, but I'm biased because it's my favourite. And not only my favourite King, but probably one of my favourite books. LOVE IT.

It is certainly the mark of a good story when you know alot about it going in and still enjoy it. I'm especially pleased that this was one you had reservations about and that it entertained you despite that. I haven't read this one of King's, so not sure how faithful the movie adaptation is although I did enjoy that.

I LOVE Stephen King, I read Pet Sematary for RIP VII and loved it (it is the second time I read it, first since having a child though). Glad you liked Dolores Claiborne, I liked it, though I didn't care for Gerald's Game. As far as female protagonists, I enjoyed Lisey's Story as well (though I think I am in the minority).